Community-Based Vocational Networks

Human behavior has traditionally been attributed to a series of adaptations to various stimuli within the surrounding environment. Studies continue to indicate that we as individuals will tend to gravitate toward that to which our minds and bodies have become accustomed as everyday patterns of experiences and expectations. The same concept is applied to individuals who have been incarcerated for a period of time and who must one day face the turmoil and confusion of returning back to free society after a long-standing absence from the norms, guidelines, and obligations that govern interactions within their new setting. The empirical literature is clear and compelling: Approximately 30 to 70 percent of offenders released from jail or prison fail within three years of release. This failure is evidence of two key problems: the inability of jails and prisons to adequately address the risk factors that increase likelihood of failure upon release, and the lack of pro-social networks and resources available to offenders during the community reintegration, or “reentry,” process. Offenders who are unprepared to meet the demands, structural constraints, and normative patterns of society, after leaving prison, will undoubtedly return to their previous lifestyle of deviance and criminality, rendering their prison experience but a mere and temporary break in a vicious cycle of arrest, incarceration, release, and rearrest.

The toll this cycle takes on our social and economic structure is seldom examined in public circles, as both citizens and politicians continue to resolve the debate over crime and punishment in the direction of stricter punishment, longer sentences, more imprisonment (necessitating the building of more prisons), and generally “getting tougher” on criminals. The untold story, however, is that the overwhelming majority of offenders who are in prison will eventually be released into the community—with harsher laws, after longer periods of separation, and with very little preparation to deal with the struggles and conflicts that are posed by reentry. [Page 73]These individuals will return to our society, move into our communities, occupy our neighborhoods, and live down the street from us. It would be beneficial to every individual in society to ensure that these offenders are well equipped with the structures necessary for their positive reintegration into the norms and values of productive citizens. The implementation of community-based vocational networks as a component of reintegration is a step in that direction and, therefore, a critical topic of debate and discussion within academic and professional circles in the field of community corrections.

The task of community correctional supervision agencies is to invest in programming that allows offenders to reintegrate positively into society and become productive, law-abiding citizens. One source of funding for such programming has traditionally focused on the concept of transitional intervention for offenders who are being released from prison into the community. The hallmark of this approach is the successful integration of offenders into the community through increased accountability and social support. An essential component of this structure has been the development of partnerships within the community to provide offenders with the services needed to bridge the gap between law enforcement and community and to assist offenders in becoming productive, law-abiding citizens. It is a well-documented fact in criminal justice research that the overwhelming majority of offenders released into the community after an extended period of incarceration experience tremendous difficulty in adjusting to life outside prison. This difficulty manifests itself in the ex-offender's inability to become stabilized with regard to housing, employment, family relationships, and other social responsibilities and obligations. Positive intervention on behalf of this population is essential to the successful goal of a reduction in recidivism.

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